1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to recording medium stackers that stack recording media discharged from a recording apparatus and recording apparatuses provided with such recording medium stackers.
2. Related Art
Recording apparatuses that record predetermined images (including text, graphics, and so on) by applying a recording agent (such as a liquid) onto a recording medium (such as paper) are known. Such recording apparatuses typically include recording medium stackers (called simply “stackers” hereinafter) that support and stack recording media discharged to the outside of the apparatus. In order to make this type of stacker more compact when the recording apparatus is not in use, a pull-out structure is employed, where the support surface that supports the discharged recording media is formed using multiple components and the surface area of the support surface is increased by pulling one of the components out from other components.
For example, JP-A-2003-95518 proposes a stacker in which an approximately horizontally-oriented support surface (stacker surface) is formed in a connected manner, where a first pull-out portion is pulled out from a stacker base portion and a second pull-out portion is pulled out from the first pull-out portion. According to this stacker, a discharged recording medium can be moved smoothly along the approximately horizontal support surface formed in a connected manner by the stacker base portion, the first pull-out portion, and the second pull-out portion.
However, because the stacker disclosed in JP-A-2003-95518 is formed so that the support surface extends in an approximately horizontal direction using the multiple components, there is a problem in that the footprint of the stacker in the horizontal direction increases when the stacker is in use. Accordingly, a configuration in which the support surface, which is formed in a connected manner in which one component is pulled out from another component, is slanted partway through has been recently proposed, as exemplified by the configuration disclosed in JP-A-2008-303000. In other words, the discharged paper stacker apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2008-303000 includes a leading end stacker that is pulled out from an intermediate stacker, at which point the tip area of the leading end stacker is held on the intermediate stacker in a raised, slanted orientation by a holding mechanism portion.
Incidentally, with the discharged paper stacker apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2008-303000, the support surface has a bent shape while the leading end stacker has been pulled out of the intermediate stacker and the tip area of the leading end stacker is held in the raised, slanted orientation. In other words, a joint between the two support surfaces is present at a delivery area, where the support surface of the intermediate stacker on the upstream side of the discharge direction leads into the support surface of the leading end stacker on the downstream side of the discharge direction, and the two support surfaces intersect at an angle. For this reason, when the leading edge of the recording medium that is moving along the support surface in order to be discharged advances over the joint at the delivery area, the recording medium makes contact with the support surface of the slanted leading end stacker at an angle, changes its direction of movement to follow the support surface, and then moves so as to be discharged. Accordingly, there is a risk of an increase in the resistance that accompanies the discharge movement, which leads to unstable discharges.